An intimate glimpse into the artistic exchange of ideas between the friends Emile Bernard and Vincent van Gogh.
This small-scale exhibition presents 27 drawings that Emile Bernard sent to Vincent van Gogh. The drawings were intended for Vincent’s eyes only, and are now being exhibited together for the first time.
Emile Bernard, Breton Woman with a Parasol, 1888
The subjects of the drawings are linked to Van Gogh and Bernard’s discussions. They explore Parisian prostitution as a subject for a modern art that presented every aspect of urban life, including the rough undertones. The drawings also show peasant life in Brittany, religion, and the observation of reality versus imagination.
Bernard used his drawings to put his ideas to Van Gogh, as his friend’s opinion was important to him.
Van Gogh mentioned Bernard’s drawing Brothel Scene in a letter to his artist friend, writing:
‘Your letter gave me great pleasure — the CROQUIS IS VERY VERY INTERESTING and I do thank you for it.’
Vincent van Gogh to Emile Bernard, 26 June 1888
Emile Bernard, Brothel Scene, 1888
The Van Gogh Museum has no less than 42 drawings by Emile Bernard in its collection. Bernard gifted a substantial number of these drawings to Vincent in the period 1886–1888.
Van Gogh received two drawings while the two artists were both in Paris, where they met in 1886; and 27 were sent to him by post in the course of 1888, after he had moved to Arles. Van Gogh discarded Bernard’s letters, but kept the drawings. This is the first time that the drawings are on view together, in chronological order.
Some of the letters that Van Gogh sent to Bernard have survived.
An online collection catalogue about Vincent van Gogh’s contemporaries was recently published in English. This publication also features comprehensive academic articles about the drawings and paintings by Emile Bernard on view in this exhibition:
Emile Bernard and Vincent van Gogh (seen from behind) by the River Seine at Asnières, near Paris, c. 1886